An Amazon Courier Pooped On A Curb, But Who Do We Blame?

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I think we should sympathize with this driver. Yes, it's pretty gross to leave a poop on someone's curb, but this looks like an act of desperation. Amazon couriers are under a lot of pressure: there are allegations that couriers are being ordered to scan undelivered packages as delivered, just so Amazon prime deliveries get there "on time," and customers don't receive free perks. There have also been accusations that Amazon delivery drivers are not given time for bathroom breaks.

All of this is a perfect storm for someone to have to relieve themselves in an embarrassing way. Imagine being this driver: you don't have time for a real lunch, so you shove some Taco Bell in your mouth and barely chew, the grease lubricating it enough to slide down your throat. 40 minutes later, trouble's brewing in your bowels. But you have 100 more packages to deliver, and only a few hours left to do so. You try to hold it in, because there's no time to stop for a bathroom break, and there aren't even any available bathrooms in the suburbs. Finally, a crisis strikes, and you're forced to make a special delivery on the side of the curb.

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That has to be mortifying. And then, on top of that, someone catches you on video. So what's Amazon's response? Is it an empathetic vow to foster a more humane work environment to allow for normal biological functions? No, it's to fire the courier in question, and to throw her under the bus:

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"This does not reflect the high standards we have for delivery service providers. This individual is no longer delivering Amazon packages and we're in direct communication with the customer," is the official statement from Amazon. But where there's poop there's fire, and if your workers are so deprived of a break they're stopping at gutters or have to "defecate in bags" and "urinate in bottles," it sounds less like someone just has a strange poop-on-a-curb fetish, and more like you need to treat your workers better.